A Shade of Vampire 79 A Game of Death - Bella Forrest Page 0,22

hand off Beval and smiled briefly. “Thank you for this information. You should get home now, before anyone thinks our conversation is downright riveting.”

The Rimian gave us one last bow and scurried away, slipping through one of the garden’s service gates and leaving Kalon and me standing, somewhat dumbfounded, right next to where we’d found Nethissis’s body.

A few minutes passed in deafening silence as Kalon tried to process what he’d been told. He seemed incredulous, unwilling to believe that his friend might be in cahoots with the Darklings, the very people who’d tried to kill Valaine. To be fair, it did make me wonder, as well. What would his motivation have been?

“Are you okay?” I asked Kalon.

He nodded once. “At least we know for a fact that Nethissis was murdered,” he said. “If the shadows Beval saw were moving slowly until they got here, then ran off, they could’ve been carrying her body. Besides, two other gardeners have already confirmed that the foxes don’t snap necks like that.”

My stomach clenched, anxiousness coursing through my veins, sharper and hotter than any other emotion that had tried me over the past couple of hours. But Kalon was right. At least we knew for a fact that Nethissis had been killed. By the Darklings, most likely.

“What would the Darklings want with her?” I asked, and Kalon shrugged.

“I don’t know. But you can’t mention any of this to the Lord and Lady Supreme. Not to the master commander, either. None of the higher ranks of Visio, for that matter,” he replied firmly. “Ideally, we should keep this to ourselves until we learn more. Maybe wait a little while longer before we tell Valaine and Tristan. I’d like to see what information they come up with, as well.”

“That sounds reasonable,” I said. “What about Trev? The Red Threads? It’s all new to me.”

The corner of his mouth turned into a sad, slight fraction of a smile. “It’s new to me, too, Esme. I’ve known Trev since he was a kid, fresh out of Rimia. He grew up with us, in my family. I find it hard to believe he’d work against us.”

“Against you?”

“The Darklings work against us. Against me. Against Valaine. Against the entire system. So do their associates,” he said. “The logical conclusion here being that, if Beval’s words are true, then my friend has been my enemy this whole time.”

His voice broke. He couldn’t believe it. His suffering touched me, and I didn’t want him to jump to conclusions so quickly. Maybe we didn’t have all the facts yet. “Maybe it’s just a rumor,” I murmured. “Why don’t we talk to Trev about it?”

Kalon’s gaze settled on me, and I temporarily lost myself in the blue pools of infinity beneath his long, dark eyelashes.

“He’ll be at the tournament final today,” he said. “If he survives and wins the grand prize, he’ll want me to turn him into an Aeternae.”

“You can press him for answers then,” I concluded, my brain lighting up and making new connections, opening the doors to new lines of questioning. From where I stood, bringing Nethissis’s killer to justice was beginning to sound more like a possible reality and less like a wild goose chase.

I knew now that our next stop was the Blood Arena. Shivers rushed through me as I remembered the last time I’d been there, and the events I’d witnessed. There was something about that place that compiled the best and worst parts of the Aeternae—their prowess as fighters and predators, and their empty souls, for only an empty soul would have such disdain for eternal life to throw it away in that arena.

Nevertheless, we were going back there, and I was quite excited about the prospect. Not so much for the fighting, but simply because it would bring me closer to the truth. I’ll get justice for you, Nethi. I promise.

Tristan

Valaine and I had spent the past three hours watching Corbin as he interrogated the palace staff with regards to the Darkling attack last night. The more I listened, the more frustrated I got. The questions were simple and generic, not at all useful for this investigation.

“Did you see anything suspicious during your shift? Where were you when Lady Crimson was attacked? Have you heard any of the gold guards discussing the Darklings?”

None of the servants would’ve had the courage to speak up against the gold guards, since they were with us, in the room, assigned as protection detail for Valaine. I actually sympathized with the